Electrosurgery is a common procedure for dentists, doctors, and veterinarians. Electrosurgical handpieces are commercially available that will accommodate a wide variety of electrode shapes and sizes, such as needles, blades, scalpels, balls and wire loops. Also, multi-function electrodes are available. Electrosurgery has been used for many different kinds of surgical procedures. One surgical procedure involves minimally invasive surgery (MIS), also referred to as laparoscopy, in which a small diameter cannula is inserted via an incision in the patient's body, and a fiber optics viewer (TV camera and monitor) as well as an elongated nozzle from an electrosurgical handpiece are extended through the cannula to the region of the patient where surgery is necessary, and the surgery carried out by the surgeon using the electrosurgical electrode while viewing the procedure through the viewer. Our issued U.S. Pat. No. 5,304,763 describes one form of MIS, the contents of which patent are herein incorporated by reference.
MIS with electrosurgery has also been used for the reduction of herniated disks, by introducing a unipolar electrode via the cannula into the herniated disk region and activating the electrode for the purpose of shrinking the disk. One such system also provides for bending the end of the unipolar electrode in order to position the active end in the desired disk region. In such a procedure, care must be exercised to avoid nerve damage. In the known system, a heat sensor is built into the active unipolar electrode end for the purpose of sensing the heat generated by the electrosurgical currents and shutting off the electrosurgical currents when the heat reaches too high a level.